Ohio Democrats protest misleading mailer with wrong election date

Ohio Democrats are in an uproar about a mailer that was sent out to more than 2,000 voters from the Ottawa County Board of Elections that gave recipients the wrong date and location for voting. The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that the Democratic Party of Ohio has requested that Secretary of State Jon Husted (R) review all correspondence from the board this year to make certain that no other misleading materials have been sent.

Ottawa County resident and Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern said, “There is no excuse for a board of elections or Secretary Husted’s office to botch their most basic job, notifying voters when and where to exercise their right to vote.”

The mailer instructed voters in three Danbury, Ohio townships that election day will be Thursday, November 8 rather than the actual day of the election, Tuesday, November 6. It also gave them the wrong instructions as to where to vote.

Deputy Director of the Ottawa Board of Elections Carol Ann Hill told the Plain Dealer that the board is “sending out a new mailer, as we speak, with an apology.”

The issues come on the heels of charges by Democrats that Republican efforts to curtail early voting in the state were an effort to suppress the black vote and lower the turnout of voters who would favor President Barack Obama. Redfern’s notice about the problem mailer noted that Obama carried the area in 2008 and that the new director of the Board of Elections is a Republican.

Hill disdained the accusations.

“We want people to vote, that is our reason to be here,” she said. “It was just a mistake. It is troublesome to make a mistake, but there was no effort to suppress the voting of anyone.”

About the Author

David Ferguson is an editor at Raw Story. He was previously writer and radio producer in Athens, Georgia, hosting two shows for Georgia Public Broadcasting and blogging at Firedoglake.com and elsewhere. He is currently working on a book.